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Toronto lineup taking shape with early picks

Cannes titles 'No Country,' 'Red Balloon' among locks

TORONTO -- Organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival will begin making formal lineup announcements Tuesday, but confirmation of 2007 festival slots is already emerging.

Roger Spottiswoode's "Shake Hands With the Devil," a Canadian drama about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, is now locked, as is the Tommy Lee Jones starrer "No Country for Old Men," Joel and Ethan Coen's Cannes Competition entry about drug dealing on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Also bound for Toronto is "The Flight of the Red Balloon," the Juliette Binoche starrer from Hou Hsiao Hsien that opened Un Certain Regard sidebar in Cannes.

Traditionally, Toronto organizers announce North American premieres that first bowed in Cannes or Berlin, before later in the summer unveiling their world premieres.

Other Toronto picks in September include Cate Blanchett starrer "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," from Shekar Kapoor. The sequel to 1998's "Elizabeth," also directed by Kapoor and starring Blanchett, is set for an Oct. 12 theatrical release.

Also making it onto Toronto's calendar is the Palme d'Or winner "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," from Romanian director Cristian Mungiu.

Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces" was confirmed for the Sept. 6 opening-night slot, and festival organizers are looking for a lighthearted picture to close the festival Sept. 15.

Other Canadian films booked into Toronto include Bruce McDonald's "The Tracey Fragments," which bowed in Berlin and is due in cinemas in October.